As Monday morning rolls in, we’re providing TechWire readers with a quick recap of the past week’s news headlines.
Notable news stories from last week included: Epic Games (maker of Fortnite) is turning Cary Towne Center mall into its new headquarters; the developers of Raleigh’s Downtown South project aim to break ground this year; German biopharma firm OakLabs picked the Triangle over Boston for its new headquarters; North Carolina earned a “2020 State of the Year” accolade from Business Facilities magazine; American Underground is now entering its 11th year – here’s a look back at its growth since 2010; the Triangle is in the running for a $2 billion biotech manufacturing plant from Japan-based Fujifilm.
A few North Carolina companies secured new funding last week, including Durham-based Verify4 Inc. ($2 million), Winston-Salem’s Unbox the Dress ($250,000), Durham-based Allobee (around $500,000), Durham’s Keen Decision Systems ($2 million) and Charlotte-based ReKTGlobal ($7.39 million). Read more local startup news in our weekly Startup Rewind edition.
And, in national news: Top U.S. security agencies confirmed that Russia was likely responsible for the recent SolarWinds hack; Tesla CEO Elon Musk became the world’s richest person behind Jeff Bezos; Wall Street appeared unfazed by Wednesday’s events at the Capitol as the Dow ended the day at an all-time high; Bitcoin surged past $40,000, as experts voiced concerns over a bubble; the U.S. reported a loss of 140,000 jobs in December, worse than economists predicted.
Keeping with our Monday “TechWire Rewind” tradition, here’s a look back at 82 local, state and national headlines as reported by WRAL TechWire last week:
MONDAY | Jan. 4 Headlines:
- Bitcoin surge indicates unbridled optimism for ‘everthing wins’ pandemic recovery
- Cary Towne Center sold to Epic Games, site will become company’s new headquarters
- Charlotte unicorn AvidXchange expands fintech footprint by acquiring Florida company
- German biopharma firm picks Triangle over Boston for new HQ
- Global outage hits Slack – a company website is offering updates on status
- Healthcare venture from Amazon, JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway is shutting down
- Land now in hand, Downtown South developers aim to break ground this year
- Local meetups roundup: 155 tech and business groups to join in the Triangle
- NC headliners: 45 webinars, events & deadlines coming up in Jan.
- No hospital stay: UNC Health to launch acute care at home service
- On the event horizon: 48 upcoming events & deadlines to add to your Feb. calendar
- Raleigh mayor: Tax grant plan can increase minority community role in Downtown South
- Startup Rewind: Building a new reality, PPP program updates, funding deals to close 2020
- TechWire Rewind: NC economic outlook; new PPP loan details; startup fund raises + more news
- Triangle headliners: 61 events & program deadlines on tap for January
- Triangle Startup Guide adds more COVID-19 support, pitch competition & coworking resources
- Workers form union at Google: ‘We’d had enough’
TUESDAY | Jan. 5 Headlines:
- Aspiring pharmacist decides to pivot career path to become a biopharma engineer
- Biopharma careers well suited for veterans and transitioning military members
- Biopharma manufacturing is a rewarding and meaningful career for many
- Biotechnology – a science-driven endeavor powered by skill
- Collaboration between schools and industry gives NC a biotech training advantage
- Duke Energy names new head of investor relations
- Elephant ivory being sold on eBay despite long-time ban, researchers find
- Epic halts current HQ work after Cary Towne Center deal, plans ‘customized’ campus
- Former Goldman Sachs exec Gary Cohn joins IBM as vice chair
- How do children learn through play? RTI to develop tools to find out as part of LEGO initiaitve
- In the LimeLight: Former INC Research exec joins Parexel as ‘chief patient officer’
- In the LimeLight: G1 Therapeutics names finance veteran to lead investor relations
- Military veteran finds meaning and purpose by pursuing biopharma career
- More than just scientists – a biopharma career for everyone
- New NC fintech raises $2M, aims to expand credit access to underserved communities
- North Carolina earns 2020 ‘State of Year’ honor from economic development magazine
- North Carolina is a leader in life sciences – here’s why
- Producing the newest medicines – and potentially cures: gene and cell therapies
- Qualcomm CEO is retiring; tech giant’s president to replace him
- Remote workers’ rough day: Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams , Gmail stumble
- Teaching Startup: How to pay your employees fairly
- Unbox the Dress sews up a funding deal, opens new HQ as sales surge
- What’s happened to Chinese tech tycoon Jack Ma? The world wonders
WEDNESDAY | Jan. 6 Headlines:
- Aiming to help keep women in workforce, Durham female exec’s startup lands investors
- American Underground turns 10: The evolution to Triangle treasure from trash in a basement
- Apple – in antitrust fight with – touts success of app store, other services
- China condemns to death a ‘lawless and extremely greedy’ exec for bribery
- Donald Thompson: Top tips for career success in 2021 from global executive coach John Murphy
- Durham biotech Ribometrix lands deal worth as much as $1B for RNA development
- Man who lost sister to sickness inspired to pursue career in biopharma
- NC IDEA looking for grant applications, sets info sessions
- Prefer to test yourself at home for COVID-19? You can order kit at Amazon
- Research Triangle Foundation hires NC A&T exec for strategic engagement role
- Tesla short-sellers take a record $40B hit thanks to Elon Musk’s remarkable year
- Testosterone treament advances at Raleigh pharma startup led by former GSK execs
- US national security agencies link huge hack with Triangle connection to Russia
THURSDAY | Jan. 7 Headlines:
- Better economic news coming, Richmond Fed CEO tells NC Bankers conference
- Bitcoin is no ‘magic money tree’ – surge above $40K ignites warnings of 25% or more in value
- California gene tech company bringing 200+ jobs at nearly $94k in average pay to Durham
- Distance learning problems? Here are ideas on how to motivate your kids
- Duke Energy acquires 932-acre solar site in Texas, will provide power for 27,000 homes
- Elon Musk surges past Jeff Bezos to become world’s richest person
- Duke Engineering PhD student heading for advisory role at Pentagon
- Fast-growing Triangle software startup Keen Decision Systems raises another $2M
- IBM, Cisco, Apple, Google CEOs join other execs in condeming riots at US Capitol
- IBM names a former exec as CEO of looming spinoff ‘NewCo’
- Raleigh-based insightsoftware acquires 9-time Inc. 5000 software firm Certent
- SAS acquires UK firm is bid to accelerate artificial intelligence in cloud efforts
- SAS promotes current executive to Chief Technology Officer
- Take that, Tesla: Mercedes unveils tech-filled ‘Hyperscreen’ (Be sure to watch video)
- Triangle in contention for $2 billion biotech production plant from Fujifilm
- Wall Street keeps climbing – here’s why investors aren’t panicking over US turmoil
FRIDAY | Jan. 8 Headlines:
- A speed deal: Epic Games acquires company focusing on compression tech
- Big banks forecast faster economic recovery in 2021, expect more stimulus
- CDC enlists LabCorp to help track genomic data of pandemic virus
- Charlotte firm ReKTGlobal cashing in on growing esports popularity
- Emerging Issues Forum will be more ambitious than any previous event – here’s why
- In the Limelight: Greenville-Eastern NC Alliance launches, unveils management team
- Making a potential $360M deal: Chimerix buys firm focusing on emerging cancer therapy
- NCSU, UNC researchers use nanotech to tackle tough blood clots
- President-elect Joe Biden’s challenge gets even harder: US reports loss of 140K jobs in Dec.
- Red Hat makes first buy since IBM acquisition – stress point is security in cloud
- Surging bitcoin is ‘mother of all bubbles,’ Bank of America strategist warns